Evans-Jenkins 1

Teenagers Portrayals in Modern American Television Drama

by Jesse Evans-Jenkins

Evans-Jenkins 2

Abstract

In this paper, I will be taking a look at the television show and will be using Media Logic category of media-centered analysis. I will be more specifically looking at character analyses, relationships, and common themes mentioned throughout the episodes. Then, I will be looking at how the show uses commodification and amplification and reduction through Media Logic.

Introduction

Before the 1990’s, teenagers in America would sometimes find it difficult to watch television shows on television. When television shows became popular, they were mainly targeted to families and adults. Then, shows were created for children. It took a few decades however for television shows to be created for teenagers that were too old for children shows, but too young to fully understand shows for adults.

With the success of Beverly Hills, 90210, the first American Teenage Drama, television networks began to notice the need for a program dedicated to the teenage market. Television shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson’s Creek began to appear, and soon enough, there were teen dramas on almost every major cable network.

With teenagers tuning in every week to see these shows, many advertisers saw a money making opportunity. If teenagers feel connected to these characters on a television show, they would probably eventually want to do what their doing. Therefore, product placement became a huge part of this genre of television. Additionally, current issues and other topics would be covered in the show.

Evans-Jenkins 3 Some people say that these types of shows have a huge influence on how teenagers make their decisions. Others, on the other hand, see these shows as things of fiction and don’t see how they could influence teenagers in their decision making. In this paper, I will be looking at Pretty Little Liars and seeing how much it does, or does not influence teenagers in the modern world.

Literature Review

Upon researching my topic, I discovered that there have been many studies on

how teenagers are portrayed in the media. Looking at different shows from different

periods can show how the “stereotypical” teenager has changed over the past few

decades. Examples of shows studied include Gossip Girl (2007-2012), One Tree Hill

(2003-2012), Charmed (1998-2006), The O.C. (2003-2007), and Beverly Hills 90210

(1990-2000). These shows have became popular with the teenage demographic, and have

impacted the lives of teenagers across America. When looking at each of these shows,

there are common teenage tendencies that are shown on screen including sex, violence,

and body image.

In an article by Rebecca Feasey titled. “Why Teen Television?,” the author looks

for a reason that adults watch teen dramas for entertainment. She uses the television show

Charmed as her artifact. Feasey noted that these shows were also popular with grown

adults because this genre “offers an unusual but wholly relevant area of interest and advice for the modern woman.” (Why Teen Television? 8) The plot lines and issues that characters go through in these shows aren’t always issues that only teenagers develop.

These shows could be seen as as form of escapism for grown adults and give them a chance to feel young again.

Evans-Jenkins 4 Teenage characteristics that Feasey notices in the show are “alienation, anxiety, sex, and friendship.” She also goes on to say that “themes of sisterhood, style, and a strong female identity” are also themes present in the show. These are common characteristics also found in shows such as Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill as seen in

“Sexual Representations in Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill: A Textual Analysis” by

Pierce and “Gender and Sexual Scripts in Popular US Teen Series: A Study on The

Gendered Discourses in One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl” by Van Damme.

In Pierce’s article, she notes that there is less sexual content in One Tree Hill compared to Gossip Girl, but it is still present in both shows. One Tree Hill treats sex as being a sacred thing that is special whereas Gossip Girl features hookups and “friends with benefits” relationships. There is never really much talk in shows about self-sex, however. Additionally, there is “little to no conversation concerning sexually transmitted diseases” a problem that is becoming quite a problem in today’s culture. (Pierce 15)

In One Tree Hill, the female characters are all seen as being dynamic to the storyline. In Gossip Girl, women were seen in more sexual clothing and were seen as

“accessories” to the male. It is also often to hear women called “‘whores, sluts, and bitches’” by both female and male characters. (11-12) This shows that the male is shown as the authority and that the female were degraded to become sexual objects for men’s pleasure.

In Van Damme’s article, many similar findings were found. In relationships,

“Girls often appear crying over problems… male characters, on the other hand, handle problems on a much more taciturn manner--without emotions.” (Van Damme 83-84)

Body image, in television shows, become the bane of the female’s existence. Characters

Evans-Jenkins 5 find themselves obsessing over being the best dressed and most popular. Additionally,

“boys are portrayed as heroes more often than girls, who are often passive victims that need to be saved.” (89) Sex is often decided by the female in both television shows.Most of the relationships in both of these television shows are also heterosexual.

Barbarie discussed in “Television Teen Dramas: How Do They Affect Young

People’s Perceptions of Their Own Teen Experience” that teenagers are able to tell that the storylines of teen dramas are highly fictionalized. “The balance of realism versus idealism is present in teen dramas, because if the storylines were strictly realistic, there would be no drama and therefore no reason to watch.” (Barbieri 11) Teenagers enjoy watching these shows because it takes “normal” teenagers lives and adds a dramatic twist to them. There is a lot of suspension of disbelief used in this genre of television.

Also in Barbarie’s article, it is noted that teenagers find characters in shows, such as Gilmore Girls (2000-2007) and Gossip Girl, that they can relate to on a personal level.

For example, a person surveyed “Rory Gilmore from the Gilmore Girls (was) the most relatable, due to her close relationship with her mother, her studious nature, her love for culture, and her slight naïveté.” (12) They go on to state that the fashion and personality of the characters affected their self-image. This research helps show the point that teen dramas influence teenagers. This could be in either a negative or positive way.

Auburn and Grady’s article, titled “Aliens in the Living Room: How TV Shapes

Our Understanding of ‘Teens’,” teaches the reader that teenage dramas use the empathetic cognitive stance when drawing the viewer into the television series. This stance “takes the point of view of the person depicted (the subject). It typically leads to a process of identification with the subject, so that the subject becomes a role model for the

Evans-Jenkins 6 viewer.” (Auburn & Grady 2) This stance takes longer to achieve, but allows to develop a psychological bond with the character. This allows for a viewer to sympathize, and become influenced by the characters whether they are a positive or negative role model.

Auburn & Grady also list different ways that TV genres create the idea that teenagers are isolated. The first misconception that the shows use is that the teen characters are portrayed as being extraordinary, or super human. This means that teens are idolized on these TV shows because they are shown as being something that we want to be. The next misconception is that teens are never put in positions where they are mentored. In television, adolescent’s relationships with their parents aren’t typically seen as being prominent or even existent. Next, teenagers are incorrectly labeled as being isolated from a larger society. Teens are depicted as being in their own world compared to adults. Teens are depicted as being autonomous, and do not need help in solving their problems. Next teens are shown as leading risky, dangerous lives. In real life, teenagers go through stressful situations, but typically do not face life-or-death situations every week. The final stereotype of a teen in a drama is that they are typically shown as masculine characters. The protagonist is typically a hero or strong in one way or another.

They are rarely dependent and are able to take care of themselves.

In the next article that I took a look at, “Absent, Ineffectual and Intoxicated

Mothers: Representing the maternal in teen television” by Rebecca Feasey, I learned about how mother figures are portrayed in American teenage dramas. Parents, in general, are typically portrayed as “either problematic forces in the life of a teenager or entirely absent from their lived reality. (Feasey 155). Parents are typically being portrayed as

Evans-Jenkins 7 being dead, such as Gidget (1965-1966), Dawson’s Creek (1998-2003), Party of Five

(1994-2000), and Charmed; separated, as in Smallville (2001-2011) and Roswell High

(1999-2002), where the protagonists are adopted because they’re parents aren’t from

Earth; abandoned, like in Dawson’s Creek, The O.C., Heartbreak High (1994-1999), and

Glee (2009- present); or troubled, shown in Beverly Hills 90210, Popular (1999-2001),

The O.C., : The Next Generation (2001-present), Veronica Mars (2004-2007),

Beyond the Break (2006-2009), and Hellcats (2010). From the various examples listed

above, its easy to tell that parents are often not shown on screen, but could still affect the

characters life in one way or another.

The article also states that when parents are in the picture, fathers are seen as the

respected authority whereas mothers would be portrayed as being the troubled parent.

When going through problems, the problems of an adult would typically be “presented as

a sexual, social, or financial problem to be overcome by the average teen rather than a

maternal figure of encouragement or support.” (158) This means that most of the

problems that parents are seen as going through could typically be solved by the teenage

child that they are supposed to be the influence for.

The final article I took a look at was “Teenage Trials and Tribulations Across

Cultures” by Simonetti. In this article, the researcher notices differences in American

Teenage Dramas and Canadian Teenage Dramas through the use of Degrassi Junior High

(1987-1989) and Beverly Hills 90210. In this article, it is discovered that these shows share common themes such as “peer pressure, friendships, and sexual relationships.”

(Simonetti) They also dealt with more serious issues such as “teen pregnancy and

Evans-Jenkins 8 motherhood, abortion, AIDS, child abuse, animal rights, homosexuality, alcoholism, bulimia/anorexia, sexism, epilepsy, drugs, parental neglect, cancer, and death.”

American dramas tend to use the “suspension of disbelief,” while the Canadian dramas are more realistic in their results. In other words, American dramas try to always end with a happy ending while Canadian dramas are not afraid to upset the viewers.

Additionally, American dramas are more individualistic, where the main characters are typically the main characters throughout the shows run. Canadian dramas, however typically have multiple main characters that they cycle through every week. The main characters can also leave throughout the seasons of the show, and new characters that are crucial to the plot can be introduced.

Methodology

For this paper, I will be writing using the media-centered method as outlined in

Chapter 9 in D. Sellnow’s book The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture. (2010) I will

be using this method because it “examines through quantatative social scientific methods,

casual relationships, and correlations between mediated popular culture messages and

audience members’ beliefs and behaviors.” (Sellnow 161) I will be analyzing Pretty Little

Liars and seeing how the show changes the audience’s beliefs and behaviors toward

teenagers. The book outlines the four perspectives of developing arguments for Media

Effects. These are Media Logic, Social Learning Theory, Parasocial Relationship Theory,

and Cultivation Theory.

Founded by David Altheide and Robert Snow in 1979, media logic is used to

“(focus) on the degree to which viewers tend to take the medium and its social uses for

granted and, this, fail to realize how it influences us to believe and behave about what is

Evans-Jenkins 9 normal, good, desirable, and so forth.” (162) Basically, this means that the viewers are unknowingly influenced by a medium, and their perceptions could be changed based on what they see in a medium. The worldwide population as a whole depends on their technological mediums more than they realize. When they need a piece of information they Google it, and if something hinders this process, they become aggravated. Therefore, media logic affects how we use the media along with how we watch it.

Two aspects that affect media logic are commodification and amplification and reduction. When talking about commodification, we are talking about “advertisements blending with programming.” (162-163) This is including both product placement and the commercials shown during a television show. A consumer is more likely to buy a product if it sponsors, or is shown in, the television show that they are watching. Amplification and reduction is “what is shown and not shown on a TV program.” (163) Television programs showcase what is desirable in life and leave out what is undesirable. They follow the bounds of pop culture and help control what is popular and what is not.

The next perspective analyzed is the Social Learning Theory. It was conceptualized by Albert Bandura in 1977. This theory “focuses on how we learn to believe and behave based on observation, imitation, and modeling.” (164) Americans don’t learn behaviors based on what actions they have done, but rather learn actions based on what is modeled in front of them. They basically imitate what they are taught is right or wrong. For example, a female may start wearing cardigans because the main character in her favorite show wears them all the time. We learn what actions to imitate and which ones to avoid based on the consequences for the behaviors. If there is a

Evans-Jenkins 10 negative consequence. If the character receives a negative consequence, they are less

likely to recreate the behavior.

The third perspective used when talking about media-centered analysis is the

parasocial relationship theory which “describes one-sided relationships where one party knows a great deal about the other party, but the other does not.” (165) It was founded by

Brooks in 1997. Viewers grow close to the characters on their television shows, and eventually get to the point where they believe they know the characters. The fictional characters, on the other hand, have no clue that the viewer exists. The viewer may feel that the television show is tailored to them when in actuality it was created to be marketed for a mass audience.

The final perspective looked at is the cultivation theory. The cultivation theory, founded by George Gerbner and Larry Gross, “suggests that TV viewing has significant long-term effects based on cumulative exposure to a belief or behavior depicted as what the everyday real world is like.” (165) For example, if a person watches a show that’s full of violence like The Walking Dead (2010-present), they will begin to believe that the world is violent. If someone is exposed to a certain idea for a long time, they will end up believing it and incorporating those beliefs into their everyday lives.

Using this method, there are 3 steps you must use in order to conduct an analysis from the media-centered perspective. The first step is to select an appropriate artifact, I used Pretty Little Liars due to the fact that it is a popular television show that is showcased on ABC Family. Also, since the show is in it’s 5th season, there are a multitude of episodes to choose from, and a lot of data to analyze. Secondly, I must examine the artifact, I watched the first four seasons of Pretty Little Liars along with the

Evans-Jenkins 11 first 12 episodes of the current-airing fifth season totaling 107 episodes. I will analyze

and describe character analyses, relationships, and topics covered in the show.

Additionally, I will discuss how these are presented to the viewer. Finally, I will evaluate

implications from the artifact and state the different positive and negative stereotypes

brought up on the television show.

Analysis

People around the world are influenced by everything around them whether they

realize it or not. When watching a television show, a viewer is subject to being exposed

to thousands of messages that are trying to influence them to believe something other

than what they are used to. There are hidden political, social, or even religious

persuasions in many popular television shows today. Pretty Little Liars is no exception.

By looking at the show overview, main character analyses, relationships between

characters, and common topics covered in the show, I will be able to determine how

teenagers are perceived in the American teenage television drama Pretty Little Liars.

Show Overview

Pretty Little Liars is a 2010 American Teenage Drama broadcast in the United

States by ABC Family. Currently in the middle of it’s fifth season, the show has, at the

time of this writing, aired 107 episodes. The show focuses on four girls and what happens

when they are antagonized by a stranger going by the name -A. The antagonist knows all

of the girls deepest secrets and has tried to harm the girls on multiple occasions.

The show’s timeslot is on Tuesday nights at 8 PM Eastern Time, According to

mic.com, the show’s main demographic is women aged 12 to 34, but the show is still

watched by many people of all ages. One reason Pretty Little Liars is so effective at

Evans-Jenkins 12 keeping viewer’s attentions is due to the fact that the show helps showcase the fear that

technology can be dangerous when used improperly.

Character Analyses

One of the main things that shape how teenagers are perceived on television is

based on how the character’s personalities and actions are shown on the show. I decided

to analyze the character’s personalities, likes, and dislikes in order to see how they are

conveyed to viewers of the show. I will be taking a look at the four lead characters: Aria

Montgomery, Hanna Marin, , and .

Aria Montgomery, portrayed by , is the indie-girl of the group. When

we see her in the first flashback scene of the Pilot (2010), we see her with a pink stripe in

her hair. In the present day, her hair is now pure black, but she still has the same indie

personality. She has the quirky fashion sense out of all of the girls. In the script of the

pilot, written by I. Marlene King, Aria is described as having “a ballet-dancer frame, straight black hair, and pouty lips, Aria knows that she is pretty.” (King 2) Aria loves her family, and takes extreme risks to ensure that they stay together. When things don’t work out, she puts the blame on herself. Other than her girl friends, Aria seems to run to adults for support when she needs help. She enjoys hanging out in cafes, listening to indie music, eating Chinese, and watching classic films like It Happened One Night (1934).

Hanna Marin, portrayed by , is described in the pilot script as

“Skinny and gorgeous, Hanna is currently the stylish “it girl” at Rosewood High.” (8)

Hanna is the popular girl at Rosewood High. She would take any risk possible to maintain her popular status at her school. When nervous, Hanna like to eat whatevre food she can get ahold of. Before Ali disappeared, Hanna was overweight and unpopular. She

Evans-Jenkins 13 also was at one point bulimic, and would purge herself after eating. Ali would always

make jokes toward Hanna about her weight and would degrade her. Hanna has became in

sorts something of what Ali used to be. She’s the one that does everything that’s popular

and tears down those not as fortunate as her. Secretly, she is tired of tearing people down

for personal enjoyment, but doesn’t want to tell her partner-in-crime Mona due to the fact

that they are best friends. She secretly steals things because she wants in one way or

another to gain her father’s attention who left her and her mother. She has great value on

her friends and family, but is a very sezual being. Hanna also loves alcohol and even

brought a flask to Ali’s funeral.

Emily Fields, portrayed by Shay Mitchell, is the athletic female in the group.

According to the pilot script, “Emily Fields works hard to maintain an athlete’s body. Her

sense of style is J-Crew sporty. A competitive swimmer, she looks and lives the part.”

(18) One of the many defining characteristics of Emily is the fact that she is a lesbian. At

the beginning of the show, she kept it a secret, but since then she has come out. She loves

her family, and was really worried about what would happen when they found out. Emily

also gets extremely attached to people and values all of her friendships and hates getting

separated from those she cares about. Hating being in the spotlight, Emily loved being

friends with Ali due to the fact that Ali had no problem being in the spotlight for her. She

has a passion for swimming, and was the captain of the team at one point. When Alison

disappeared, Emily had the most hope that Ali would come back some day.

Spencer Hastings, played by , is the brains of the clique in Pretty

Little Liars. In the script for the pilot, Spencer Hastings is listed as “incredibly attractive” but is also “an over achiever, (and) prides herself on being smart, athletic, disciplined and

Evans-Jenkins 14 successful.” (9) Her fashion sense is pretty conservative with most of her outfits looking

like modern twists of a traditional schoolgirl outfit. Spencer competes for attention

against her sister Melissa, even to the point where she flirts with some of her sister’s

boyfriends. She has also been a drug addict in the past. Spencer comes from a more

financially stable family compared to the other girls.

From the above descriptions, this show is pretty well rounded in it’s diversity of

main characters. One common thing that all the girls have in common though is that they

are trendy. Each girl wears clothes that are in style, and you never see them wear the

same outfit more than once. The only exception to this rule is when Aria wears the dress

she met Ezra in in the Season 3 premiere, “It Happened ‘That Night.’” The girls also are

well known in their school and care about their social standing.

Relationships

Relationships with family, friends, or even enemies in a television show can influence the viewer on their beliefs and other things. Pretty Little Liars contains many

different forms of relationships between all of the main characters of the television show.

Altogether, all four of the girls are really good friends. Before Alison disappeared,

the group of 5 pretty much ran the school socially. The girls were known by everyone in

the school and basically determine who is popular and who is not. After Alison died, the

girls grew apart for the year. According to Emily, “it was easier that way.” (Pilot) They

run to each other with their problems, unless they think -A will harm one of the other

girls for sharing a secret.

Aria’s main relationship showcased is her relationship with Ezra Fitz, portrayed

by Ian Harding. In the pilot, Aria meets Ezra at a cafe she visits after dropping her

Evans-Jenkins 15 brother off at Lacrosse practice. Ezra and Aria hit it off right on the spot and, after sharing common interests, decide to make out in the bathroom of the cafe. The next day,

Aria discovers that Ezra is her new English teacher, Mr. Fitz. Throughout the first few seasons, Aria and Ezra try to figure out the best way to manage their relationship. Aria becomes easily jealous when she hears about Ezra’s previous relationships, but always supports him, even when she found out that he had a child with a woman from a previous relationship. Their on-again, off-again relationship leads to a lot of emotions throughout the series, but even through their trials and tribulations, they are still able to stick with each other.

Aria’s family relationship is also pretty dramatic. Her father, Byron, cheated on her mother with one of his student’s at the local community college. Ali and Aria were together when Aria discovered this, and Aria decided that it would be best to hide this information from her mother, Ella. A year later, -A decides to reveal this information to

Ella, portrayed by Holly Marie Combs. Her mother, as a result, isolates everyone in the family which causes a great deal of stress in her family life with her mother, father, and brother. Aria’s only true enemy throughout the show would have been her dad’s mistress,

Kate.

When the show began airing, Hanna was in a relationship with Sean Ackard. Sean was played by Chuck Hittinger. Being a pastor's son, Sean had many strict beliefs about abstinence which really angered Hanna. This lead to their ultimate break up. After Sean,

Hanna met bad boy Caleb. Caleb, portrayed by Tyler Blackburn, was a homeless teen who lived in the heating ducts of the school. After Hanna let him stay in her basement, they began to grow very close. Hanna runs to Caleb with all of her secrets, and he has

Evans-Jenkins 16 grown to be an addition to the girls’ group. He also was the male that took Hanna’s virginity. Hanna and Caleb have broke up on multiple occasions, but the main reason has mainly been to keep each other safe. A great example of this is in the season three midseason finale, The Lady Killer. Caleb ends up being shot in the abdomen by Nate St.

Germain and is immobilized, so him and Hanna go under the radar in order to keep each other, and the other girls, safe.

Hanna has learned many of her irresponsible traits from her parents. Her mother,

Ashley, tells Hanna that should would do anything to ensure that her daughter remains popular and has even had sex with Detective Wilden after he arrests Hanna for stealing glasses. By having sex with the detective, Hanna’s mom was able to get the charges cleared. After having a hard time with money, Hanna’s mom took money from Mrs.

Potter, a deceased woman’s, bank account. She would take any risk for her daughter, and

Hanna has returned the favor many times. One example is when Hanna tried to protect

Ashley when she ran over Detective Wilden with her car. Hanna’s relationship with her father is strained. He had left the family a year prior to the beginning of the show and found a new wife that he had wanted to be with.

Hanna's best friend in the show is Mona Vanderwall. Mona and Hanna are the social “it” girls of Rosewood and make their impact on the school very noticeable. They determine who is popular and emotionally crush whoever gets in their way. Getting jealous easily, Mona gets angered by Hanna easily due to the fact that she doesn’t like how Hanna is beginning to get close to Aria, Spencer, and Emily again. After Mona is discovered to be the first A in the second season finale, Hanna feels betrayed and can’t

Evans-Jenkins 17 even talk to Mona for the longest time. Being a loyal friend, however, Hanna visits Mona in the Sanitorium occasionally.

Emily’s relationships have been pretty strained due to the fact that she is coming to terms with her sexuality. Being a lesbian, Emily has issues coming to terms with what she likes. When the show starts, she is dating a friend named Ben. Due to her meeting and gaining feelings for Maya St. Germaine, Emily ends up breaking it off with Ben.

Dating Maya causes it’s own troubles though due to the fact that Emily isn’t ready to publically “come out” which upsets Maya. Eventually, Emily comes out of the closet and

Maya and her relationship develop. When Maya went missing, and was later found deceased, Emily was reasonably very upset. Currently, Emily is dating Paige McCullers.

Another girl that Emily goes to school with. Paige is an athlete, like Emily and was originally a rival to Emily.

Emily’s relationship with her family is pretty distant. In the first season of the show, she spent a lot of her time trying to hide that she was homosexual from her parents.

-A decided to notify her mother of this information the day that her dad had just returned to home from the military temporarily. Her dad, being the caring father that he was, has stated that he just wants his “little princess to be happy.” Her mother, Pam Fields, on the other hand does not take it well in any way whatsoever. She almost seems hurt by her daughter’s decision and feels uncomfortable anytime Emily brings Maya, her girlfriend at the time, back to the house.

In more recent seasons, it seems like Emily’s mom is off visiting her father rather than staying ay her home with Emily. Emily seems to spend a lot of her time with Hanna

Evans-Jenkins 18 and her mother during free time. Her mother seems to support her daughter more than she used to, but they never really bring up the topic on the television show.

Spencer, the brains of the group, had a very confusing love life in the first season.

Single when the show starts, she is shown to have an interest in her sister, Melissa’s, fiancee. He feels the same feeling, and they are seen kissing by Melissa. She regrets kissing him even though he’s the one that started it, so she decides that it would not be a good idea to date him. She then meets Alex, a worker at the local country club. Afraid of what her parents might think, she originally hides this from her parents, but they support her when they find out. -A decides to mess up this relationship however by causing Alex to think that Spencer is trying to change him as a person to fit the needs of her parents.

Shortly after, she gets closer to Toby Cavanaugh, portrayed by Keegan Allen.

Toby and Spencer grew ironically closer while looking for clues as to what may have happened to Alison. Originally having trust issues with the situation, Spencer slowly gets closer to Toby and decide that they really like each other. Even though they have trust issues throughout their relationship, they learn to grown closer because of their differences and even overcome -A’s power several times throughout the show. When looking at all the relationships in the show, it seems to appear that Spencer and Toby are the two that fight against -A the most.

Spencer’s family life is a little frantic. Her family obviously pick favorites when it comes to their children, and always seem to want their youngest daughter to accomplish the same feats that their oldest one had. When Spencer is caught kissing

Wren, Melissa’s fiancee, the entire family appears to ostracize her for hurting her sister.

Evans-Jenkins 19 They always want Spencer to be the top of her class, and are severely disappointed if she doesn’t have any accomplishes to note on a regular basis.

Topic

On a television show, there are a multitude of topics that can be brought up throughout the shows run. The television shows try to relate to common issues that viewers can relate to. When looking at Pretty Little Liars, there are a lot of common topics mentioned. The topics brought up in Pretty Little Liars include: alcohol, sex, violence, and lying.

Alcohol, and underage drinking is a topic commonly brought up in Pretty Little

Liars. This is prominent from the first scene in the Pilot in which the girls pass out while drinking when Alison disappears. One evening, later in the season, Hanna was denied sex by Sean, so she stole his car, while intoxicated, and wrecked it into a tree. After this, their relationship never was the same, so she broke up with him. It appears that there are almost always negative consequences when the girls consume alcoholic beverages. It either puts a strain on a relationship, causes a confrontation, or leads to the endangerment of someone’s life.

Sex is another topic brought up in the show. Hanna, whom is a virgin at the beginning of the show, has trust issues with her boyfriend due to the fact that she doesn’t believe he likes her due to the fact that he will not have sex wuth her. This inevitably leads to being one of the factors that leads to her breakup. When she does end up losing her virginity with Caleb, she treats it as a genuine experience. The television show treats sex as being a special experience and highlights the first sexual encounters as a precious experience. They do not seem to bring up the idea of abstinence however.

Evans-Jenkins 20 The next theme mentioned in the show is violence. There is death throughout the

show, and almost every season finale involves an important character dying. The show

revolves around the mysterious disappearance and murder of a teenage girl. There is also

a lot of blood and other things shown throughout the run of the show. -A is not afraid to

hurt the girls in physical and emotional ways, and is not afraid to dispose of those that

seem to get in the way. Most of the violence in this show is portrayed as remaining

unpunished. The cops cannot seem to find out who the identity of -A is, and seems to

underestimate the power that the mysterious antagonist has.

The final topic mentioned in the show is lying and deception. The 4 lead actresses

in the show are constantly deceiving and lying to others, including the law enforcements.

Most of the time, the girls main reason for lying is in order to save each other or others

involved in their relationships. An example of lying is the fact that all of the girls decide

to lie about the fact that there is an anonymous person antagonizing them. They do this

because -A constantly threatens something in their lives if the girls decide to reveal that they are bothering them.

These four themes are just a few examples of things mentioned in the television show Pretty Little Liars.

Media Logic

From the above findings, there are several examples of Media Logic. I will be looking at both commodification, amplification, and reduction. With commodification, I will be looking at the many techniques used to influence viewers of the teleision show. I will also be looking at aspects of life that are amplified and reduced in the show.

Commodification

Evans-Jenkins 21 Television is a huge influential part of society today. Companies constantly are spending money to have their brands advertised or mentioned in television programs. In

Pretty Little Liars, audiences are influenced through product placement, music choice, advertisements and fashion.

The first influential factor in Pretty Little Liars is product placement. Throughout all of the seasons of the show, there seems to be a variety of products placed inside of the show. Some of the product placement isn’t too obvious, like the varying brands of phones that the girls carry around in different episodes of the show. Other more obvious examples include the season 4 episode “Into the Deep.” During this episode, Aria is sitting on the couch with a friend when a commercial comes on for Insidious: Chapter 2.

During this scene, there is a brief clip from the trailer and Aria comments on how she’s seen the film twice. She even stated that the film was creepier than the first one. This helps influence teenagers on popular topics, and can influence them into buying a product. This is because that they will see an admirable character using something that they want, so they will decide to purchase said item.

The next influential factor in the show is music choice. The show uses a lot of popular music from popular and up and coming groups. Examples include P!nk, 3 AM

Club, ZZ Ward, Christina Perri, and the Pierces. During the actual show, there is no advertisement for the actual song, but all of the music is available for viewing on ABC

Family’s website. There are also direct links to purchase the songs on iTunes. This can influence a viewer’s music choice and can even lead to a person buying more of an artists discography.

Evans-Jenkins 22 Thirdly, this television show influences viewers through advertisements. Most of

the promotions on ABC Family are in house commercials and promote television

programs and specials on the channel and other channels owned by ABC. Sometimes,

however, episodes are sponsored by upcoming movies. For example, the Season 5 Fan

Appreciation Special as sponsored by the 2014 Ouija. This influences viewers

because they may decide to watch a program just because of the commercial they saw for

it on the station. Plus, if the channel is able to film actors/actresses from the show to

promote an upcoming movie, then it may make viewers decide to watch the movie that is

being advertised.

The final aspect of the show that influences the viewer is fashion. The main

characters of the show are all very trendy and appear to care about what they look like at

all given moments of the day. They never seem to wear outfits again and, even though

some of them are going through financial troubles, seem to constantly have the newest

fashion trends with a never ending closet. Although the brands are never revealed during

the show, viewers can also go to ABC Family’s website to see how to look like the girls

looked in each episode. Although the television show rarely points out the fashion

choices of the girls, it is still notable to see that this could influence the demographic

audience in one way or another.

Amplification and Reduction

When looking at television shows, or movies for that matter, the characters full lives are never presented in the show. For example, you may not see every meal a character eats or see when they use the restroom, but the viewer understands that this

Evans-Jenkins 23 must all happen at some point. In media today, there are certain aspects of character’s

lives that are amplified and others that are reduced.

There are many aspects of a teenagers life that are amplified in Pretty Little Liars.

The first topic that is amplified is drama. A teenager in high school’s life can definitely

be full of drama, but the drama on this show could be seen as being over the top. For

example, most teenagers don’t have a creepy stalker texting them about secrets in their

lives. Another aspect that is commonly blown out of proportion is the amount of violence

in this show. Although there are times in people’s lives when their friends die, the

average teenager does not have multiple friends or family members disappear or get

murdered on a regular basis. As stated previously, this show features a death in almost

every finale which can be blown out of proportion compared to a normal teen’s life. The final aspect of the show that is amplified is the amount of makeup that the girls constantly are wearing. There is never an unflattering moment for any of the leads in the show.

There was even a scene in season 3 where Hanna wakes up out of her bed in the middle of the night after hearing a mysterious noise. Upon further observations, it’s not hard to miss that Hanna is actually wearing full makeup. Most girls don’t care enough about their

appearance before they go to bed, so they normally don’t put on a fresh coat of lipstick.

On the flip side, there is also a lot of the show that is reduced to having little to no

airtime on the television show. One stickout example on this show is the impact of the

law enforcement. In reality, cops are seen as being a safekeeper and they constantly are

looking for safety. The police in Pretty Little Liars are seen as being deceptive and, at

other times, dangerous. For example, Officer Wilden, one of the detectives in the show,

bribes the Marin family by sleeping with Hanna’s mom in order to drop the charges of

Evans-Jenkins 24 Hanna stealing sunglasses from the Rosewood Mall. Officer Garrett, another character of

the show was also falsely accused as being Alison’s murderer, but was seen as being a

dangerous character in the show until he was murdered. Another aspect of the show that

isn’t seen is how caring their families are. The only time the parents of Hanna, Aria,

Emily, and Spencer care about what is going on in their daughters’ lives are when they

had just almost been killed. The parents even seem to embrace Mona after she returns to

the girls’ lives when being revealed as -A. Most parents in real life would care about

what goes on in their childrens’ lives and would avoid dangerous situations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Pretty Little Liars showed me that teenagers are portrayed as being

sexual, selfish, sneaky, and lying. Most of this is due to the fact that the law enforcements

are shown as being dangerous and the girls have no adult figures to trust in the show.

Additionally, the show tends to over exaggerate the amount of drama that is in the typical

teenagers’ life. It makes high school seem like a scary place for teenagers, and makes it

seem like there’s always a reason to worry about what is going on.

Television is a medium that most families take advantage of nowadays. In one

way another, these shows influence and manipulate us in one way or another. These

could be positive things, or negative, but either way they can change the way that we view life on a daily basis.

Evans-Jenkins 25

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